Explaining Loyalty in Higher Education: A Model and Comparative Analysis from the Policy of Gratuity, a Case Applied to Chile

Maritza Katherine Galindo-Illanes, Juan Alejandro Gallegos-Mardones and Arturo Vasquez-Parraga
Additional contact information
Maritza Katherine Galindo-Illanes: Faculty of Economics and Business, San Sebastián University, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Juan Alejandro Gallegos-Mardones: Department of Audit and Information Systems, Universidad Católica de la Santisima Concepcion, Concepción 4090541, Chile

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: Since the 1980s, numerous transformations in higher education were experienced in Latin America, and especially in Chile, a country that allowed private entities to enter the education systems and develop a market. The opportunity triggered an increase of coverage and competition to capture and retain students, followed by marketing strategies delivering student satisfaction and pursuing student loyalty. Moreover, since 2012, higher education institutions in Chile have been allowed to adopt a policy of gratuity, giving families the co-responsibility of dealing with the cost of education. So, some institutions adopted gratuity and continued receiving funds from the state, but others did not, relying instead on family income. The split in the financial responsibility of higher education seems to have generated varied reactions from the students and their families, including their satisfaction with and loyalty to the institution. Despite the abundant literature on higher education, however, a few studies attempt to explain and compare student satisfaction and loyalty across types of institutions, such as those that opted for gratuity versus those that did not. This study examines a set of relevant attributes for understanding that phenomenon; attributes such as quality of service, satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty. The results reveal a prevalence of trust and familiarity among the students attending an institution with gratuity. In contrast, the results demonstrate a preponderance of commitment and satisfaction among the students attending a non-gratuity institution that relies on family, private, and personal funds to support their education.

Keywords: student satisfaction; student loyalty; higher education; gratuity; Chile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10781/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10781/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:10781-:d:645310

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().